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A longitudinal study of social media and youth protest

Sebastián Valenzuela
Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile

This study examines changes in the association between social media use and protest behavior in a context of growing social unrest among the younger population. Using propensity score matching, it analyzes data from a repeated cross-sectional survey before, during and after the 2011 students’ demonstrations in Chile. The results indicate that both Facebook and Twitter have significant effects on the likelihood of protesting, although these effects vary across time and platforms. These differences are explained in terms of the protest cycle and the strong-tie versus weak-tie network structures that characterize Facebook and Twitter, respectively. Furthermore, the findings highlight the value of studying the time dynamics of the social media-protest relationship.

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